Review and Applications of Microscopic Identification in Quality Standard of Chinese Herbal Medicines / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

ABSTRACT

The microscopic identification technique plays an important role in quality standard of Chinese herbal medicines. It has been adopted as a routine identification method in the major pharmacopoeias due to its accurate, simple, speedy, inexpensive, feasible as well as environmentally friendly properties. In this article, the theoretical principles of microscopic identification, the stability and specificity of microscopic characters, are firstly discussed. The applications of microscopic identification in ChP, USP, Ph. Eur. and JP are listed and typically compared. A protocol for microscopic identification is thus proposed based on our previous investigations. Finally, some challenges facing modernizaiton of Chinese herbal medicines are also outlined.